Asbestos activist in fight for life

By Elisabeth Sexton

August 22, 2007 — 10.00am

WHEN Bernie Banton became the public face of the battle for compensation from James Hardie Industries in 2004, he was campaigning for people who had been exposed to asbestos decades ago but were yet to fall ill.

He was not to know that he would be one of them.

Mr Banton has suffered since 1999 from asbestosis, a debilitating but not necessarily fatal lung disease, and the non-malignant, asbestos-related pleural disease.

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Yesterday he was "absolutely shattered" by the news he had also contracted the much more aggressive cancer caused by asbestos, mesothelioma.

The typical life expectancy from diagnosis is six to nine months.

"This one's a much more personal fight," Mr Banton said.

"You have all heard me say I was one of the lucky ones, that I could still get around with my oxygen bottle. Now I have moved up the scale a bit."

His doctor, Professor Stephen Clarke of Concord Hospital, was guarded about the prognosis.

"Bernie's a fighter," said Professor Clarke, who met his patient as a member of the board overseeing the new Asbestos Diseases Research Institute at the hospital.

"He's been a great supporter of ours so we are going to help him fight this as much as we can."

Flanked by his wife, Karen, and teenage son Dean, Mr Banton held a news conference yesterday with the aim of reducing media intrusion as the family comes to terms with the diagnosis made on Friday.

He might now benefit from the compensation fund James Hardie set up this year, for which he was an energetic activist.

Mr Banton received compensation for asbestosis and ARPD in 1999 for a confidential sum, but did not agree to a full and final settlement. He campaigned for future claimants when it became obvious in 2004 that funding set aside by James Hardie would run out within three years.

The 60-year-old, who has five children and 11 grandchildren, lodged a compensation claim on Monday with the Dust Diseases Tribunal, the specialist court established to expedite asbestos claims.

As an employee of James Hardie from 1968 to 1974, Mr Banton is likely to be eligible for a payment from the company's workers compensation insurers, which have met 90 per cent of employee claims in the past four years. If not, his claim will be passed to the new fund. Covering product liability, public liability and employee claims not paid by insurers, it is designed to meet an estimated $1.4 billion shortfall in funding provided by James Hardie in 2001.

Since the "fabulous result" of the new fund, Mr Banton has turned his attention to lobbying for a mesothelioma drug, Alimta, to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

"How ironic that only two weeks ago I was knocking on the Prime Minister's door, speaking to one of his offsiders in this fight for Alimta," he said.

"It's not readily available to all Australians and it should be on the PBS."